The present invention relates generally to damping devices for overhead conductors, and particularly to a device capable of efficiently and effectively controlling to a safe level the vibration of a conductor, the device employing sliding friction between adjacent turns of a close wound, helical spring as the damping mechanism and impacts between adjacent turns if the frequency of vibration is sufficiently high.
As is well known in the industry, the Stockbridge damper has been used extensively to dampen aeolian vibration of single conductors and conductor bundles, a more recent proposal involving the Stockbridge damper being described on pages 108 and 109 of the Mar. 15, 1976 issue of Electrical World. As indicated in this article, Stockbridge dampers usually employ two inertial weights or masses attached to the opposed ends of a stranded steel cable. Means for clamping the stranded cable to an overhead conductor is attached to the cable between the locations of the weights. Though such a structure has performed well over the years as a device for damping aeolian vibration of individual conductors, the power transmission and distribution industry seeks apparatus and equipment that improves and enhances their ability to render service.